LAHORE: Police have so far detained 50 members of defunct Lashkar-i-Jhanvi in a crackdown across the province in the last few days.The arrests have been made in the wake of recent Quetta suicide blast and a direction issued by the interior ministry.

A senior police officer told Dawn that the members, including leaders, had been put under arrest for a month under 3-Maintenance of Public Order. He said the crackdown would continue.

Nine members who taken into custody by Lahore police have been identified as Abdur Rau Moawaia, Muhammad Shafique, Asif Moawia, Mirza Masood Baig, Hafiz Ahsan Saeed, Irfan Moawia, Muhammad Shafique, Rustam Khan Moawia and Aamir Ali Malik.

A senior jail official said as many as 27 members had been received in different provincial jails.

He said the government had not issued orders for specific number of detentions.

TOBA TEK SINGH: Police arrested two men allegedly linked to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) here on Saturday, reports our correspondent.

Hafiz Muhammad Kashif of the Ravi Town locality of Kamalia and Maulana Muhammad Nadeem, administrator of the Madressah Hussain Bin Ali in Chak 256-GB, Philour in the Rajana police precincts, were shifted to an undisclosed location.

A police official said both men would be sent to jail for a month, as they had been arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order act.

Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat district president Maulana Muhammad Awais, general secretary Irfan Azhar Naz and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Kamalia leader Pir Yousaf Bukhari condemned the arrests and said they had never been associated with the LJ. They said the arrested men were activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and their detention was an attempt to please the rival sect.